Partnering to Provide Comprehensive Community Healthcare

The Inspire Award for Community Service is presented annually as a way of recognizing community leaders or organizations that exemplify the values of Presence Health by going above and beyond to care for vulnerable populations in need. Presence Mercy Medical Center recently honored FUSE (Frequent Users System Engagement) with the 2018 Inspire Award at a ceremony on May 16. Previous recipients of this award include: Kane County Health Department, Compañeros en Salud, Hesed House, and Triple Threat.

The Presence Mercy Medical Center Community Leadership Board – an advisory group of dedicated community members – nominated FUSE for its commitment to serving Aurora’s population of homeless residents. People without housing are frequent users of homeless, health and criminal justice services, creating a costly revolving door that involves many people and organizations in our community. Developed to help address this issue, FUSE is a proven model for identifying “frequent users” of crisis public services. FUSE is a collaborative initiative of local organizations – the city of Aurora, Presence Mercy Medical Center, Rush-Copley Medical Center, the Corporation for Supportive Housing, Hesed House and the Association for Individual Development – working together to identify homeless citizens and provide supportive housing solutions.

Mike Brown, President & CEO, Presence Mercy Medical Center, says, “We are proud to work collaboratively with our FUSE partners to help our neighbors in need find some comfort of home.” Adding, “The Inspire Awards are Presence Health’s way of acknowledging our community partners, who share our mission, implement positive change and inspire others to take action.”

Pictured above: Mike Brown, President & CEO, Presence Mercy Medical Center (right), alongside representatives from local FUSE community partners at 2018 Inspire Award ceremony.